HHS Recent News

Adult Protective Services

AB 518 (Wagner) – Support
As Amended on March 23, 2011

AB 518, a bill by Assembly Member Donald Wagner, would continue to protect elder and dependent adults from financial abuse by eliminating the sunset date on the reporting of suspected abuse by financial institutions.

Counties support AB 518, which was passed by the Assembly Aging and Long-Term Care Committee on March 23. The bill will be heard next in the Assembly Public Safety Committee, but has not yet been set for a hearing.

Conference Committee Actions on Health & Human Services

The Joint Budget Conference Committee took action to close out items yesterday that, in most cases, would enact additional cuts to health and human services programs. The outline below refers only to actions taken by the Committee on March 3 – all other actions previously reported in the CSAC Bulletin remain in the Conference Committee’s final report. In total, the Legislature adopted $6 billion in cuts to health and human services programs.

AB 1066, by Assembly Speaker John Pérez, has been introduced to clean up some of the technical language contained in last year’s Section 1115 Medicaid Hospital Financing Demonstration Waiver bills, SB 208 (Steinberg) and AB 302 (Pérez).

The Department of Finance (DOF) released a letter to Senate Budget and Fiscal Review Committee Chair Mark Leno yesterday seeking to simplify state oversight of the Mental Health Services Act (MHSA, or Proposition 63 of 2004) by amending the statute to allow counties to receive MHSA funds directly.

Budget Subcommittees Wrap Up Work

Assembly Budget Subcommittee No. 1 and Senate Budget and Fiscal Review Subcommittee No. 3 concluded their hearings last week. Many of the significant budget cuts remain open and presumably will be dealt with by the full budget committees in each house and by the conference committee on the budget. The full budget committees will be meeting later this week. The CalWORKs and Medi-Cal cuts and the realignment proposal are open items.

Budget March Continues

The Assembly and Senate continued health and human services budget hearings this week. Assembly Budget Subcommittee No. 1 discussed the Medi-Cal and Healthy Families cuts and the CalWORKs cuts. The subcommittee held all the major cut proposals open. Senate Budget and Fiscal Review Subcommittee No. 3 heard testimony on the mental health budget and the mental health realignment proposal. Additionally the subcommittee discussed the In-Home Supportive Services budget. The subcommittee also held all major cut proposals and realignment open.

Legislature Kicks Off HHS Budget Hearings

The Assembly and Senate began their budget deliberations this week. California Health and Human Services Secretary Diana Dooley appeared before both committees to communicate the gravity of the budget situation. She acknowledged the Legislature will be considering difficult budget cuts that no one likes. Secretary Dooley also made herself available to the Legislature as they work on the budget.

CSAC Health and Human Services Technical Realignment Work Group To Meet Friday

The CSAC Health and Human Services Technical Realignment Work Group is being resurrected for a meeting on Friday, January 21, to evaluate Governor Brown’s proposal to realign a series of human services programs to counties.

Health and Human Services Budget Clarifications

The CSAC Budget Action Bulletin released on Monday contains a detailed description of the health and human services budget proposals, including the realignment proposal. Since Monday, CSAC has obtained additional details on some of the proposals. The following are updates to that document.

Low Income Health Program (LIHP)

The Department of Health Care Services is expected to release the application for the Low Income Health Program (LIHP) today. Please check the Department’s website for the application. In addition, the Department updated the site in the last few weeks, including the Frequently Asked Questions section. Counties are encouraged to check the site regularly for new information.

HHS Policy Committee to Meet Monthly in 2011

Due to the pressing issues affecting health and human services programs, the CSAC Health and Human Services Policy Committee will meet monthly in 2011. The Committee anticipates grappling with federal health care reform, the implementation of the new Section 1115 Medicaid Waiver, and state budget proposals.

Annual Meeting 2010 Recap

CSAC HHS Policy Committee Hears Weighty Issues

The CSAC Health and Human Services Policy Committee met on November 17 with more than 20 supervisors and 60 county staff and affiliates in attendance. A complete agenda packet is available on the CSAC website.

Assembly Speaker Asks First 5 Commissions to Fund Child Care Cut

Assembly Speaker John A. Pérez has asked the state and local First 5 Commissions to step into the void left by Governor Schwarzenegger’s line-item veto of $256 million in Stage 3 CalWORKs child care funding.

The Governor’s veto effectively eliminates the program on November 1. More than 81,000 children and 60,000 families will lose their child care, which may result in the loss of jobs for many of the parents, as well as the child care providers.

The state Department of Social Services (CDSS) has received a $14.5 million five-year grant from the federal Administration for Children and Families to improve outcomes and promote permanency for certain foster youth in the state’s system.

The state will use some of the grant funding for introducing an integrated casework practice model within four counties – Fresno, Humboldt, Los Angeles, and Santa Clara – serving as pilot project participants.